[IP] RIAA lawsuit : How news is made
------ Forwarded Message
From: "Sean C. Sheridan" <scs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 14 Apr 2005 12:43:39 -0400
To: <dave@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: RIAA lawsuit : How news is made
This "press conference" and the associated "Press release" have created
a number of one sided articles in college papers across the country.
Here is the transcript from a closed door meeting between the president
of the RIAA and a group of college student reporters. Available at:
http://www.cpnewslink.com/static/20051304riaatranscript.doc
Do you have any comments?
Is there anything you'd like to convey to the student reporters?
Are there any experts on the list who would be willing to answer further
questions from college student reporters?
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Transcript: CPNewslink Online Press Conference
Cary Sherman, President of the Recording Industry Association of America
Wednesday, April 13, 2005 3:15 p.m. EST
moderator: OK. Thank you, everyone, for coming to the Recording
Industry Association of America (RIAA)'s CPNewsLink newsmaker conference
today.
moderator: We are pleased to welcome as our CPNewsLink guest this
afternoon Mr. Cary Sherman, president of the Recording Industry
Association of America (RIAA). The RIAA's member companies are
responsible for creating, manufacturing, or distributing 90 percent of
all legitimate sound recordings sold in the United States.
moderator: As you all are likely aware, yesterday -- in response to an
emerging epidemic of music theft on a specialized, high-speed university
computer network known as Internet2 -- the RIAA, on behalf of the major
record companies, announced plans to file copyright infringement
lawsuits against 405 students at 18 different colleges across the country.
moderator: The full press release, with a list of schools with
students involved, is available at
http://www.cpwire.com/archive/2005/4/12/1816.asp
moderator: Mr. Sherman, welcome.
cary_sherman_riaa: Good afternoon. Thank you for the invitation to
participate in this online chat. I look forward to taking your questions
but will first make just a few opening remarks. Over the past two years,
we have worked very constructively with the university community,
improving educational efforts at colleges across the country, expanding
partnerships between schools and legal online services and providing a
clearinghouse for expertise on technological anti-piracy solutions. We
have made tremendous progress, but we are now facing a new, emerging
epidemic of music theft on a specialized, high-speed university computer
network known as Internet2. Unfortunately, through the use of a
file-sharing application known as i2hub, Internet2 is increasingly
becoming the network of choice for students seeking to steal copyrighted
songs and other works on a massive scale. Quite simply, this special,
high-speed Internet technology designed for important academic research
has been hijacked for illegal purposes. Students who choose to engage in
this illegal behavior should know that they are not anonymous. There are
consequences for unlawful uses of this specialized network. We have
built a strong relationship with university administrators in recent
years, and our request to them now is to not let this incredible
technology, Internet2, become a lawless zone where the rules don¹t
apply. With that, I am happy to take your questions.
moderator: Let's begin with the question that's on everyone's mind...
moderator: Your organization is making significant news today. Why has
the RIAA chosen to pursue users of the Internet2 network as part of its
anti-piracy efforts? And why now?
moderator: <Q>Your organization is making significant news today. Why
has the RIAA chosen to pursue users of the Internet2 network as part of
its anti-piracy efforts? And why now?
cary_sherman_riaa <A>Internet2 is an amazing network that holds great
promise. We can't let it be hijacked for illegal purposes from the
outset. The use of i2hub for music piracy on Internet2 is something that
needs to be addressed immediately, before bad habits take hold. That's
why we decided to act quickly -- to let everyone know that illegal
file-trading on Internet2 is not safe from detection. By getting out the
message early, we're hoping we can keep Internet2 from suffering the
same fate that the Internet suffered with the explosive growth of
illegal file-sharing.
moderator: OK, now we'll turn it over to the journalists for some
questions. Participants, when asking a question, please state your name,
your school name and your newspaper name at the front of your question.
moderator: And now we will take our first question...
<Q>Chris Gaerig, Michigan Daily, University of Michigan. The RIAA says
that it has identified students at 140 other schools. Do you plan on
charging these students as well? If so, when, and is there any
possibility for these marked students to avoid such lawsuits?
cary_sherman_riaa <A>We are sending the information about infringements
at these 140 schools to the president of each university -- to let them
know that they have a problem on their campus, and to encourage them to
do something about it. Chances are we will not take further action
against these particular infringements, but we're reserving the right to
do so. In any event, we will certainly take action against future
infringements.
<Q>Dan Duray, The Dartmouth, Dartmouth College: Is there a list
available with the names of the 140 schools that have had letters sent
to their presidents informing them of i2hub activity, but haven't had
lawsuits brought against any of their students?
cary_sherman_riaa <A>We're not making the list of the 140 schools
public. This is intended to be a private communication to the president
of the university to alert him/her to the fact that there is an i2hub
infringement problem on their campus.
<Q>Nikki Buskey, University of Texas, Daily Texan News: How did you
choose which universities and which students would be targeted by the
lawsuits?
cary_sherman_riaa <A>We chose targets based on the egregiousness of the
infringement. There was one user who was offering 13,600 MP3 files. You
can be sure that user became a target. Similarly, where we had a large
number of infringements at a school, the students at that school were
more likely to be targeted.
<Q>Jennifer Kulig, The Burr, Kent State University: How does the RIAA
detect Internet2 users?
cary_sherman_riaa <A>For obvious reasons, we don't reveal that
information.
<Q>Sheyla Asencios, The Valencia Source, Valencia Community College:
What other illegally shared files are these students being sued for, or
is music theft the only one?
cary_sherman_riaa <A>RIAA lawsuits involve music only. However, the MPAA
has announced that it is also filing separate lawsuits for the theft of
movies.
<Q>Steve Santulli, The Hoya, Georgetown University: What are the exact
charges being filed against these students, and what sort of punishment
can they expect?
cary_sherman_riaa <A>The exact charge is for direct copyright
infringement. It carries a minimum penalty of $750 per work infringed.
For a serious downloader (or uploader), that can add up to a lot of
money. But we routinely settle these cases at far less -- on average in
the $3500-4500 range -- for those who work with us to resolve these
cases quickly. If we have to litigate the case, or if the infringement
is especially egregious, the settlement amount could be higher.
<Q>John Scruggs, The Daily Helmsman, University of Memphis: How much is
RIAA spending to fight copyright infringement on college and university
computer networks?
cary_sherman_riaa <A>Suffice it to say that this is not a profit-making
venture. But it's money we need to spend to educate users that uploading
and downloading on p2p networks is illegal and carries risk.
<Q>Dan Duray, The Dartmouth, Dartmouth College: You have limited your
lawsuits to only 18 schools and 25 students per school, though it seems
as though the RIAA has evidence of much greater i2hub activity. Do you
intend to bring about further lawsuits in the near or distant future?
cary_sherman_riaa <A>We will definitely be bringing additional actions
in the future. It is possible that some of these infringements could be
targeted in future lawsuits, but it's a little more likely that we'll
bring actions against newer infringements. People who continue to engage
in illegal uploading and downloading after they've learned that the use
of i2hub on internet2 for this purpose is illegal are appropriate
targets in future rounds.
<Q>Dave Benoit, Boston College, BC Heights. Should universities work to
set up contracts with companies or programs in which the cost is covered
by universities, or tuition, and students are able to legally obtain
music on their computers? And are measures being taken in this direction?
cary_sherman_riaa <A>Absolutely. So far, 44 schools have done deals with
legitimate online music services so they can offer their students a
legal way to get music. Some students have complained that their tuition
or student fees shouldn't be used for music. Yet virtually every school
provides cable TV service in their dorms, and the subscription for cable
TV is included in the students' room and board fees. The President of
Penn State conducted focus groups on campus and found that students felt
it was more important to have access to music than TV! Why, then,
shouldn't universities include music in student fees, just as they
include TV service, health club fees and lots of other recreational
activities?
<Q>Katy Knapp, University of New Mexico, Daily Lobo. How much money does
the recording industry actually lose from illegal downloading?
cary_sherman_riaa <A>We have not attempted to quantify the actual losses
due to file-sharing, because there are so many variables. We've seen
estimates from third parties ranging from $700 million to several
billion per year in the US alone. But the impact is very clear:
songwriters getting half the royalties they used to, artists being
dropped from label rosters, new artists not getting signed, thousands of
layoffs, thousands of record stores closed. People think of artists are
uniformly rich, but that's just not the case. For every Britney, there
are thousands of unknown artists working their way up, CD plant workers,
marketing people, delivery people, accountants, graphic designers,
studio engineers, background musicians, vocalists -- it goes on and on.
<Q>Jim Rogers, University of Missouri-Columbia, The Maneater: Is the
RIAA considering action against Internet2 itself, rather than simply
users of the network?
cary_sherman_riaa <A>We have no problem with Internet2. It is a neutral
network that is capable of outstanding beneficial uses. It just happens
to be being misused by some file-sharers who think it's a convenient way
to steal music. We hope to work with Internet2 to see if there are
technical steps that can be taken to reduce the vulnerability to abuse
of the network.
<Q>Katy Moore, John Brown University, The Threefold Advocate: What's the
average number of illegal files that these students posses?
cary_sherman_riaa <A>The users sued today had an average of 2300 MP3
files (and about 3900 total files). The largest user had 13,600 MP3s.
<Q>Dan Duray, The Dartmouth, Dartmouth College: In terms of the
long-term goal of the RIAA of ending illegal file sharing, how effective
do you see today's lawsuits being?
cary_sherman_riaa <A>A lot of our efforts are designed to educate the
public -- and students in particular -- that file-sharing without
permission is illegal and risky. These lawsuits are getting a lot of
publicity, which means that the message will get out far and wide.
That's an important component of the effort to persuade users to migrate
from the illegal services to the legitimate online services --which are
offering more and more content (over a million tracks already), at all
different price points, with guaranteed quality, without fear of
viruses, spyware, adware, or lawsuits!
<Q>Nick Nance, Tarrant County College, The Collegian: Why have college
students become the primary target of your organization when they are
not the only population group engaging in file sharing?
cary_sherman_riaa <A>College students are not the primary target. Of the
lawsuits brought to date, we've sued a relatively small percentage of
students as compared to the general public. Today's lawsuits are
different in that we focused on i2hub, which is uniquely available on
college campuses. Hence the focus on students in this round only.
<Q>Taylor Long, The Hofstra Chronicle, Hofstra University: does the RIAA
plan on doing anything other than sue people and write letters in an
effort to stop illegal downloading?
cary_sherman_riaa <A>The primary response to illegal file-sharing is to
offer legitimate alternatives that consumers prefer. And that's what the
industry has been focused on most. There are dozens of legal services
now offering everything from a la carte downloads to subscriptions;
kiosks in retail stores (like Starbucks); the new DualDisc format for
physical products (CD on one side, DVD on the other); extra songs on CDs
that can be downloaded from the Internet; and on and on. Record
companies are licensing their content on as many different online
platforms as they can. It's in support of those initiatives that we're
also pursuing education, enforcement and efforts like our work with the
higher education community. There isn't going to be a silver bullet
that's going to solve this problem. It requires a multi-pronged approach.
<Q>Pav, SUNY Purchase. How do you feel about the establishment of
Creative Commons licenses, where artists gain more control over how the
rights of their music. If such licenses were to pick up steam and become
more popular, and if artists take a firmer hold onto their own
individual rights over their music, how will the RIAA respond?
cary_sherman_riaa <A>We think the Creative Commons license is a fine
idea and we support it. If an artist wants to control his/her own
rights, that's fine too. This is all about choice: An artist should be
able to decide how to market his or her work -- not Grokster or some
other p2p service who builds a business on giving away someone else's
property. Artists who think that p2p can benefit their careers by giving
them exposure should be free to distribute their music on p2p. But
artists who don't think like that shouldn't be forced to give their
music away because Grokster has decided for them.
<Q>John Scruggs, The Daily Helmsman, University of Memphis: Is the RIAA
making headway in curbing illegal file sharing on college and university
campuses around the country?
cary_sherman_riaa <A>Yes. This is certainly a challenging problem, and
it's not going to go away overnight, probably not ever. The idea is to
get the problem sufficiently under control so that legitimate commerce
can survive. It's like physical piracy. We're never going to eliminate
it; there will always be vendors selling counterfeit CDs on street
corners. But we work hard to keep the problem sufficiently contained
that it doesn't frustrate investment in new artists and new music. We
need to get to that same point online. We've come a very long way. Think
of what p2p was like 2 years ago -- with exponential growth of p2p and
no end in sight. The problem is far more contained now, and third-party
studies show that even though p2p has increased again in recent months,
it is still below the levels it was at before we started the lawsuits in
September 2003.
<Q>Taylor Long, The Hofstra Chronicle, Hofstra University: What do you
see for the future of downloading music online: where would you like to
see it go? Where do you think it will go?
cary_sherman_riaa <A>I think digital distribution of music is just
beginning, and it's going to get a whole lot larger than it is right
now. But let's not focus just on downloads. True, that's the most
popular model right now. But I think users are going to really gravitate
toward subscription services as they learn more about them. For a single
monthly fee, they get the opportunity to listen to any song they want
whenever they want. More and more people are beginning to subscribe to
such services. It's a little like cable TV -- which started slowly, but
then became very big once people understood what it offered.
moderator: Mr. Sherman, any closing remarks?
cary_sherman_riaa: I wish I had more time to answer all the excellent
questions posed in this chat. It's obvious that you want information,
and I'm delighted that you have an interest in hearing our side of this
debate. The bottom line is that we all have something in common -- a
love of music. The question is how will the interests of creating more
and more diverse music be best served? We've got the most vibrant music
community in the world in the US (just like we do movies, and software,
all of which are encouraged by the rewards promised by copyright law).
We should be doing everything we can to allow the marketplace to work
here -- to get consumers more music, in more innovative ways, and to
make sure that the creators get rewarded for giving us their gift.
Respecting the property rights of creators is the key, and that's why
we've taken the steps we have. Thanks for listening.
moderator: This concludes today's newsmaker conference with Cary
Sherman, president of the Recording Industry Association of America
(RIAA). The conference is brought to you on CPNewsLink, a joint service
of College Publisher and Collegiate Presswire.
moderator: On behalf of the RIAA, thank you for attending, and thank
you for your interest. And, on behalf of all the college journalists
attending this event, and those reading about it, our thanks go out to
Mr. Sherman for taking time out of his busy schedule to chat with us today.
moderator: If you have additional questions about this story, please
direct them to Jonathan Lamy, Jenni Engebretsen or Amanda Hunter of the
RIAA at (202) 775-0101.
moderator: Additionally, for your use in writing a story, we will be
sending a full transcript of this event over Collegiate Presswire to all
of our subscribing newspapers within the next hour, and we'll be posting
a copy on the front page of the CPNewsLink website shortly thereafter.
(http://www.cpnewslink.com)
moderator: As a reminder, we will be hosting additional CP NewsLink
newsmaker events throughout the upcoming year, and will be e-mailing you
notification of them prior to the next event.
moderator: We hope you enjoyed this chat, and trust that it provided
you with some insight and perspectives into this issue for your use in
writing stories on this topic.
moderator: Thank you, once again, for attending today's CP NewsLink
conference.
moderator: Good bye, everyone!
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